Roanoke Athletics | February 18, 2014

St. Mary's (Md.) bests Roanoke 12-8 in season opener

Roanoke struck first in the contest as Tyler McWilliams netted an unassisted goal in the sixth minute of the game, giving the Maroons a 1-0 lead. St. Mary's answered quickly as Conor Jordan scored the equalizer less than a minute later. It took three minutes for Roanoke to score again, as Colin Rossano scored on a Will Pilat assist to take a 2-1 lead. The Seahawks scored twice more before the end of the quarter, claiming the 4-2 advantage.

In the second half, St. Mary's Jordan tallied his second goal of the game to give the Seahawks a two goal advantage. Joey Dishaw scored Roanoke's lone goal of the half with 5:47 to play, unassisted, pulling the Maroons back within one, 4-3. Matt Tarrant of the Seahawks snuck one past the keeper with just seconds to spare in the half, allowing St. Mary's to enter halftime with a 5-3 lead.

Roanoke started the second half as it had the first, scoring the first goal of the frame. Kevin Jackson scored with an assist from Chad Smith as Roanoke was back within one, 5-4. St. Mary's scored twice more within the next three minutes to push the lead out to three goals, 7-4. Roanoke second goal of the quarter came from Colin Mackenzie who had help from Steven Jackson. With 8:07 to play in the third, Roanoke trailed by two, 7-5. In the final three minutes of the quarter, the Seahawks netted two more goals, including a man-up goal from Patrick Regan. The Maroons were down by four, 9-5 at the end of the third quarter.

The Maroons came out hot in the final frame though, as McWilliams scored in just 30 seconds of the quarter. Michael Lintner scored just a minute later, as Roanoke got back within two, 9-7. However, St. Mary's halted Roanoke's progress, scoring three goals in a three minute span, pushing its advantage to five goals with 7:11 to play. Roanoke would score just once more as Mackenzie scored his second goal of this game, this time a man-up goal.

Roanoke led the game in saves 16-9,and narrowly trailed St. Mary's in ground balls 31-29. Roanoke had two man-up goals to St. Mary's one as well. The Seahawks led in shots 36-34, while the Maroons led the faceoff battle 13-10.

Gordy Long and Matt Tarrant each finished with three goals on the day, combining for half of St. Mary's final total. Will Lerch led the team with six shots, finishing with one goal of his own. Zack Blewett played all 60 minutes between the pipes, picking up nine saves.

Tyler McWilliams and Colin Mackenzie led the Maroons in goals, netting two apiece. Michael Lintner, Joey Dishaw, Kevin Jackson and Colin Rossano finished with one goal each. McWilliams and Jackson led the squad in shots, each firing off seven shots. Charles Pease played all 60 minutes in goal, tallying 16 saves.